A day after a section of local seers raised a demand to ban the sale of liquor and meat in the Ayodhya district, Uttar Pradesh government said it would respect the feelings of people. State minister Shrikant Sharma said the government would try to fulfil the seers' demands well within the constitutional limits and legal framework.
The demand from the seers comes days after the state government renamed the Faizabad district as Ayodhya even as the chorus for building a Ram temple gathered momentum ahead of the 2019 parliamentary elections.
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Till now the ban on the sale of liquor and meat had been existing only in Ayodhya town. But now the seers want this ban to be extended to the entire Ayodhya district to maintain the sanctity of the birthplace of Lord Ram, according to reports.
"Ayodhya has been a sacred place for centuries, meat and liquor were never sold here. Now that Faizabad has been renamed as Ayodhya, the ban should be applicable to the whole district. The ban will end the impurity and pollution and evoke a feeling of purity. This ban will help people to be healthier," Ramjanmabhumi makeshift temple priest Acharya Satyendra Das was quoted as saying by ANI.
The New Indian Express reported that imposing a ban within the legal framework means that the state religious affairs ministry would have to declare entire Ayodhya district a holy site for being Lord Ram's birthplace.
The report further said the ban would probably be implemented on the lines of Vrindavan and Barsana in Mathura district where the government effected a similar ban last year as both the places have religious importance.
However, the proposal has irked meat shop owners in the district. "This is my only source of income and if there is a ban on the sale of meat and eggs, how will we earn anything," asked Mohammed Shahzad, who owns a meat shop.